Dolphinback
by rnkas
Summary: Caught in a storm, Shannon becomes one of the many dolphinbacks stranded on the island that they call Dinotopia. Forced to learn a new culture, Shannon becomes caught up in many events and mysteries that may prove the end of Dinotopia as she knows it.
1. Shipwrecked

A/N: First off, I do not own Dinotopia. This will keep going if you guys like it, but if you don't, I probably won't update as often. Please give this a try, and please review.

My name's Shannon. Few interesting things ever happened in my life. I'd never been to sleep-away camp, never had a boyfriend, never really done anything interesting, to tell you the truth. That remained true for a long time. When I was fifteen, something did happen – something I'd like to share with you.

I was going on a trip on a sailboat with my family to who-knows-where. It was some island, I suppose, but it had some long name that I couldn't pronounce. I gave up trying to say it, after a while, so I just stated calling it 'that island.' Well, we got shipwrecked.

It was the scariest thing I'd ever encountered. I was on deck, luckily, where a storm was blowing like mad, and waves the size of Everest were billowing and crashing all around me. I don't know why I stayed out there.

I was soaking wet, and frozen. I guess I just liked it out there. The storm seemed so powerful, as if it was the strongest thing in the world. It's one of those things that make you feel small, like a principal, or a mountain, or a picture of earth from far away. Those things just astound me how one minute you can feel at the top of the world, and the next you're a tiny speck that's not much bigger than an ant.

Anyway, I stood there, holding on to the railing, just staring into the waves. I suppose anyone who saw me would think I was insane. There were a few sailors on the deck, but they didn't notice me. They probably weren't looking. What insane person would be on the deck in a storm?

"Shannon? Where are you?"

It was my mom. Her voice seemed like it came from far away, but when I turned around, I realized that she and Dad were standing five feet away.

"Can't you see me?" I called back. I could barely see five feet away, and Mom's eyesight wasn't so good. She wore glasses. I doubt she could've seen anything through the glass.

I could see her silhouette through the sheet of rain. She kept wiping her glasses on her shirt, and trying to see something.

"Shannon, is that you?" Dad yelled. He didn't have glasses, except for reading. It was just that the rain was blowing in his direction, and he had to close his eyes to keep them from getting destroyed by the rain.

"Yeah!" I screamed. At that moment, the boat gave an even bigger lurch, and we were thrown into the ocean. As I fell, I tried to hold onto the railing, but it was wet, and my fingers were cold, so I couldn't hold on for long. I had it better than Mom and Dad, though. They didn't have enough time to think to hold their noses.

I plunged into the water. I could've sworn it was below zero degrees. I began shivering as soon as a drop of water touched me. I broke the surface, and gasped for air. I hadn't stayed underwater for that long, but it felt like forever. I looked around, and saw my parents gasping and half-choking.

"Mom? Dad?" I gasped.

"Shannon," Mom coughed.

Mom held her glasses in her hand. I have no idea how she kept them. They were kind of her life-line. She was blind as a bat without them. If I were her, I'd have lost them as soon as I fell.

I looked down at my legs that were frantically trying to tread water. A dark shape came up under me. I screamed.

I knew it was a shark. It must've been that cut I'd gotten the week before while climbing a tree. I'd been talking to my best friend, Katie Wood, and I lost my balance on the branch. I'd fallen, and gotten a huge cut on my arm.

Katie'd been my best friend, and my only friend, since kindergarten. We went from playing dolls together, to climbing trees together, and doing homework together. Katie was the kind of person who'd tell you everything, even stuff you really didn't want to hear. She made you want to shout 'TMI' to her every time you were together.

It still had a huge band-aid on it that fell off from the force of the collision with the water. I remembered reading somewhere that sharks are attracted to the smell of blood. I glanced at my cut, and saw it beginning to bleed.

"What is it, Shannon, sweetie!" Mom shrieked. Her glasses were still clenched tight in her hand.

"It's a shark!" I tried to say, but the words couldn't come. My mouth just opened and closed like a gaping fish. Great simile, in this circumstance.

Instead of a sharp pain from a shark's teeth, I felt a push in between my legs, as something lifted me out of the water, and pulled me away. I was hovering in between consciousness and unconsciousness. I was vaguely away of my parents being alongside me.

"Mom?" I whispered, "Dad?" There was no answer. I tried to call louder, out of desperation.

"Mom?" I yelled, "Dad?" I heard a groan, and that was enough for me. With that to comfort me, I allowed myself to be pulled into unconsciousness.

A/N: I know that it's short. I'll try harder next time. Just click that little button, and leave me a review.


	2. On the Way to Sauropolis

A/N: Thank you, reviewers!!! That seriously made my day. Back to the story… 

When I woke up, I looked up and saw a sunrise. I didn't usually see sunrises. Most of the time, I sleep in until six on weekdays and nine on weekends. By then, I'm too late. Besides, the trees behind my house usually block it out.

I took a slow look around, and saw my parents sitting up. Mom's fingers were closed in a deathgrip around her glasses. Dad was rubbing his forehead. He did that a lot, especially when he read the paper without his glasses.

"Shannon, are you awake?" Dad asked. I groaned in response. I had used up most of my energy by sitting up.

"Do you think anyone is here, Scott?" Mom asked Dad. Dad's name was Scott, in case you didn't catch that.

"I don't know. I doubt it. There would be hotels and restaurants near the shoreline if anyone lived here. This is probably deserted."

I groaned again. I didn't want to be on a deserted island. What would I eat? I'm one of those kids who's hungry ten minutes after she eats. I doubted that there would be enough food readily available for that.

"Shannon, are you hurt?" Mom asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, Jane," Dad assured her, "She got less of a bashing from the storm that we did." But Mom didn't pay attention.

"Is anything broken? Did you crash into the water the wrong way? Please, Shannon, say something!"

"I'm fine," I muttered, my lips barely forming the words, "Just tired."

"Then sleep," Dad suggested, "I'll try and find some food." I was perfectly willing to obey, and fell asleep within a few minutes.

It was different than falling unconscious. You don't know exactly the moment when you fall asleep, but you can feel it when you're going unconscious. It was a horrible feeling.

I was woken up by the sound of voices. I heard my parent's voices, naturally, but there was another voice there, too. It sounded like a young man's voice. I thought he sounded like he was about my age, but I'm bad at that kind of thing.

Whenever someone does that thing where they cover your eyes and ask you who is it, I always guess Katie. I'm usually right, because she was my only friend. I couldn't tell you who was talking on the radio, even if I'd heard their voice a million times.

So, I opened my eyes and sat up. It was a young man, around my age. I was slightly impressed with myself for figuring that out. He wore strange clothes. While I wore jeans and a sweatshirt, he wore a baggy white shirt with a collar and baggy brown pants. There was a greenish-brown pouch that he wore around his neck and an arm.

"So, where are we?" Dad asked, in a tone that told me he'd asked this at least a dozen times already.

"We're on Cape Turtletail," the older boy answered, "At the south of Dinotopia."

"What did you say Dinotopia was?"

"It's an island."

"Scott, Shannon's awake," Mom suddenly said, pointing at me. I wiped the sleep from my eyes.

"Breathe deep, Shannon," the boy said, "My name's Alex. I'm fourteen." So, I was a year off. What the heck.

"Um, good morning," I answered. Alex smiled. He had shining green eyes, black hair, and slightly tanned skin.

"Are you hungry?"

Now that the thought of food had entered my mind, I realized that I hadn't eaten since dinner on the ship. It looked like it was already past noon.

"Yes, please," I answered. Alex reached into his pouch, and withdrew a clump of berries, which I devoured quickly. He also handed me a chunk of bread.

I took a bite out of the bread. It tasted like my aunt's pumpkin bread that she made whenever we came over to her house. Her house smelled like cats, to be honest, and she didn't even have any cats.

I kept eating the bread until it was gone. When I was done, I felt a lot better, and ready to get a move on.

"Where are we headed to?" I asked.

"We want to get to Waterfall City, but it's fairly far. Once we get to Sauropolis, it shouldn't be too hard, but there are few villages in between Sauropolis and Waterfall City, and even fewer between here and Sauropolis."

"What are you doing here, then?"

"I was traveling to Chandara, to the east. I wanted to go around the mountains, so I came by here, and found you four."

"Why were you going to Chandara?"

"My cousins live there. I was ging to surprise them with a visit, but that can wait. I'll take you guys to Waterfall City, and then I'll go to Chandara."

"Thank you, that's very kind," Mom told him. Alex smiled.

"Are we ready or not?" I asked. I couldn't wait to get started. Alex and I walked in front, and my parents walked in the back. Soon, Alex became my new best friend. At least, my best friend in Dinotopia.

He told me that he lived Sauropolis, with two little sisters and his parents. His mom was from Chandara, and his dad was from Treetown. I told him about my parents, my friend, Katie, America. He didn't know anything about it.

"I'm three mothers American," he told me.

"What?" I asked. I felt like asking him to speak in English, but I knew that would be rude. I'm sometimes rude without meaning to be, but Alex didn't know me too well, and he wouldn't get that.

"My great-grandma was a dolphinback," he said.

"A what?"

"A dolphinback. You were carried here by dolphins, right?" I suddenly realized that the creature that I'd mistaken for a shark was really a dolphin. That made me feel really stupid. I hated feeling stupid, especially by someone a year younger than me.

We walked for a few days, not seeing anything. No people, no animals. It made me wonder if this really was a deserted island, and Alex was just pulling my leg. People at school loved to do that. Then, they'd say that I was too gullible. Idiots.

Then, we came to a deep river. It may have been deep, but the river was calm. Alex led the way, swimming across. I followed with Mom and Dad.

"Be happy," he told us, "This means too things. First off, we didn't get lost. Secondly, there's only one day left ahead of us. Tomorrow, we'll be in Sauropolis. You can meet my family, and then we can continue on to Waterfall City."

We shrugged, and kept on walking. I'd never walked so much in my entire life. I'm not very athletic. I don't do sports, excersize, or eat healthily. With so little food, and so much walking, I could've sworn that I'd lost twenty pounds.

The next day, we saw Sauropolis.


End file.
